Details of the meteoroid impact process that creates bright diagonal streaks in Saturn's rings, such as the size of the impactors, the rate of impacts into the rings, and more, are presented in a paper published today in the journal Science by Cassini scientists. (Press release can be found here.)

Apr 25, 2013:

A Race Around Saturn - This illustration depicts the shearing of an initially circular cloud of debris as a result of the particles in the cloud having differing orbital speeds around Saturn.

Apr 25, 2013:

A Race Around Saturn (Animated) - This illustration depicts the shearing of an initially circular cloud of debris as a result of the particles in the cloud having differing orbital speeds around Saturn.

Apr 25, 2013:

Meteors Meet Saturn's Rings - Five images of Saturn's rings, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft between 2009 and 2012, show clouds of material ejected from impacts of small objects into the rings.